I have a couple of theories about the Don't-Want-To-Be-A-Programmer-No-More syndrome.
1. The person never really wanted to be a programmer but heard that they could make good money doing it. My advice - get out now and stop taking up cube-space that could be given to a real programmer.
2. The person becomes overwhelmed by the rate of change and thinks that they are falling too far behind his peers. Unfortunately this may be true in some cases, but before you quit something you truly love, consider putting in more time toward continuous learning.
3. It could also be that the current working environment they are in is not programmer friendly. If programmers are treated like expendable and replaceable units, that may sour the perception of their chosen career. It is important to focus on the intrinsic rewards of programming and try to remember why you fell in love with it.
4. The person may actually be ready to pursue another career path. If it took 10 years working as a programmer to realize they should be a writer, project manager or lion tamer then that may be the right path for them. I believe the analytic skills one acquires as a programmer are definitely transferable. Spread your wings and try something new.
When I wrote my first computer program, I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever experienced at the time. I didn't think about the money I could make or any other extrinsic rewards. I just wanted to do more of it because I enjoyed doing it and I believed computers were going to change the world.
Despite all the challenges facing us as programmers, we have to remember that little by little we are making the world a better place. It may not seem that way when you are coding a small routine for an outdated accounting application, but when you consider yourself as part of the whole IT community, just look at what we've done.

I get a surprising number of emails from career programmers who have spent some time in the profession and eventually decided it just isn't for them. Most recently this: I finished a computer science degree last year, worked about a year in the Java EE stack. I liked requirements engineering ...